Tale of the Heart Queen (Artefacts of Ouranos #4)

Chapter 2

C HAPTER 2

“ O h, do stop your blubbering,” comes a sharp voice, shocking me into choked silence. My head snaps up to find we’re no longer in the forest where I dragged Nadir. “It’s so very . . . phlegmy.”

We’re in a massive round room, the floor made of a shiny material that might be marble, except it’s one continuous slab with no discernible breaks. Windows surround us, filtering in soft white light that seems to almost hum. I feel it more than I hear it with the barest vibration in the backs of my teeth.

Though this isn’t the same room where I met the Empyrium, premonition tells me I’m back in the Evanescence, but I can’t tell if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.

Given my luck lately, it’s probably a terrible fucking thing.

Before me stands a woman wearing a silvery dress that dusts the floor in light, airy folds. Her bronzed arms are bare, and her blonde hair curls almost to her waist, crowned with a silver circlet framing her lovely, heart-shaped face. A pair of piercing aquamarine eyes stare down at me with cool detachment.

She seems familiar, and it takes me a moment to place her. She’s the former Aphelion queen who failed to help her people and was “volunteered” to become a god.

“Zerra,” I whisper, and she tips her head, looking down at me like I’m dung smeared on the heel of her shoe.

“You called me.” She gracefully spreads her arms with her palms turned up. “So here I am.”

I search my surroundings for the Empyrium and their strange shifting body of many people, but there appears to be only the three of us in the room.

“ This is the male you’re so attached to,” Zerra says with a sniff as she elegantly sinks to her heels and assesses him from head to toe. It takes a moment to process those words. Does she know who I am? Who Nadir is?

I reach out and grab her slender wrist. She feels as delicate as a bird, but the air around her is perfumed with the stench of chaos, and I would do well not to underestimate her.

“Can you help him?” I ask as she snatches it away.

She’s a god. Surely if anyone can fix this, then it’s her.

“Please. I screwed up. I lost control of my magic, and I . . .”

Zerra’s nostrils flare before she pushes herself to stand and takes two careful steps back, putting distance between us.

“I can help him,” she says matter-of-factly, as though she hasn’t just offered me a lifeline woven of glittering golden thread .

“Thank you,” I say, prepared to lay down my own life or whatever else she demands. “Please. I’ll do anything if you can help him.”

Zerra’s mouth twists up into a smile that sets me on edge.

“Yes. That you will, Lor.”

I blink, again noting the ominous bite of her beauty and waiting for whatever condition she’s about to attach to my future. Our future. I squeeze Nadir, hoping he knows I’m doing everything I can to fix this.

“What?” I finally ask while she continues staring at me with that same haughty look. “He’s not breathing. Hurry up. What do you want?”

She waves a hand. “Don’t worry. As long as he’s with me, he’s in a suspended state. He’ll be fine once I choose to revive him. It will be like you never killed him at all.”

Those words loosen the bolt screwed inside my chest, but it can’t be that easy. I’m confident I have many bridges yet to cross before this is over. I cling to him tighter, feeling how cold he’s grown already and how the color has leached from his skin. I run a thumb over the arch of his dark brow, my fingers caressing his cheek as my eyes burn with tears. When I look back at Zerra, she’s watching us, a crease denting the space between her brilliant blue eyes.

“What will make you choose to revive him?” I ask, gritting my teeth with impatience.

She clasps her hands at her waist and slowly paces a few steps left and then right before turning back. With my heart wedged in my throat, I clamp down on the urge to scream at her to hurry the fuck up .

“The arks,” she says after a few moments as a few pieces shift into place.

“The arks. Cloris Payne told us about them.”

“ High Priestess Cloris ,” she says. “You will respect her position and address her as is her station.”

I roll my neck because otherwise I’ll roll my eyes. I’ll respect Cloris fucking Payne when pigs grow unicorn horns.

“Fine. High Priestess Cloris told me.”

Zerra tips her chin as if that pleases her. But only a little. Her entire demeanor speaks to something that resembles a mortal-shaped sneer. This is the goddess who controls our lives? This small, petty woman?

“I don’t have the ark of Heart if that’s what you’re after.”

“All in due time,” she says.

I’m choosing not to think too hard about what that means, because for now, Nadir is the only thing that matters.

“The Alluvion King has an ark in his possession,” Zerra says.

I sigh, feeling pressure build in my temples, already knowing where this is going.

“I want you to retrieve it for me,” she says.

“Of course you do. And then you’ll bring him back?”

She presses her lips together and nods.

“Then I’ll bring him back.”

“What if I can’t find it?”

She wrinkles her nose and tips her head in a smooth feline movement. “Then your mate will die.”

At those words, my chest squeezes like my ribs are tied together with thick iron chains .

“Bring him back now,” I plead. “He can help me find it. And if we can’t, we’ll find another way to repay you. You have my word.”

Zerra paces a few more steps in the other direction, taking her time. I get the sense she wants to make me squirm, and I do my best to control my temper. She’s the only hope I have right now, and I have to remain on her good side.

If she has one.

Just from this single interaction and my brief window into her past, I suspect the good side of this High Fae queen-turned-goddess was set on fire and burned to ash a long time ago.

“No,” she says. “I don’t care for that idea.”

“But Nadir knows more about the rulers and their kingdoms than I do,” I say. “He’ll be a much better asset in aiding me. I’ll find it much quicker.”

I try modulating my voice into something that resembles confidence when my insides are liquefying into a raw pool of regret.

“And have you two plotting against me?” she asks. My forehead furrows as I think about the last thing the Empyrium said to me. They want to replace Zerra . . . and that’s when their final words come barreling back with the force of a tidal wave.

A queen without a queendom.

They want me for the job. I think.

Does Zerra know that? Am I now a threat to her?

Suspicion burns up the back of my neck. What are the odds Zerra found me only moments later? Surely the Empyrium wouldn’t have told her? And if they did, why ?

I shake my head, pretending I have no clue. “I don’t know what that means. Why would we plot against you?”

I don’t want this role. It’s the last thing I want, just like the original rulers who also refused this fate. They wanted to return home and help their people recover from the disasters plaguing their lands. That’s what I want. I want to return to Heart and take my place where I’m sure I belong.

I ignore the tiny, chastising voice in my head telling me that maybe that has never actually been my destiny, even if it’s what I want.

But one problem at a time, I guess.

Should I tell her I don’t intend to replace her? Would she believe me? What if she doesn’t know about any of this, and I’d just be revealing everything to her?

“We wouldn’t do that,” I say. “I don’t even know how we’d do that.”

She makes a noise that suggests she doesn’t believe me.

“These are my conditions. You will travel to Alluvion, ingratiate yourself with Cyan, and find out where his ark is hiding.”

“That’s it?” I ask, hope spiraling in my chest. That I can do.

“No, that’s not it ,” she bites out like I’m literally the stupidest person she’s ever met. “Then you’re going to steal it for me.”

I hold in another weary sigh that threatens to topple this entire room. Everyone wants something from me. Rion. Atlas. Cloris. And now . . . this goddess who seems like kind of a bitch. But worse than that, she seems dangerous. A knifepoint dangling over my head .

“And then you’ll bring Nadir back to life?”

“Yes,” she says. “Decide. I grow weary of this conversation. I can just as easily let him die right now. It truly doesn’t matter to me.”

She says the words casually, but they taste like a lie.

The Empyrium described the great lengths she went to retrieve the arks in the past. She wouldn’t have done any of that if they didn’t matter. She tore apart Ouranos trying to root them out, and now she intends to search for them again.

Why does she think I’ll succeed where her priestesses failed? Why is she asking me ? Did she see an opportunity when I called for her, knowing she could use Nadir as leverage? Or is all of this a coincidence?

Does any of it matter right now when his life is on the line?

“Where will Nadir be while I’m in Alluvion?”

“Right here with me,” Zerra says. “Were you expecting a parade for him?”

The bitter taste of anger flashes in the back of my throat. “I just need to know he’ll be safe.”

She rolls her eyes. “You really don’t have much choice, dear Lor. Either accept my offer or I’ll send you back to Ouranos, and you can see how you manage on your own. But he’ll be gone. Understand that.”

I could be walking into her trap if she does know of the Empyrium’s plans, and I have no idea if she’ll keep her word, but I’m also aware that I have little currency to offer. If I don’t try, then Nadir will die for sure.

She waves her hand over his body like he’s a fallen log blocking her path. How can a goddess be so callous? I remind myself that she was a spoiled young queen who was forced into this role. She is no benevolent spirit, as we’ve all been led to believe. She never lived up to the potential the Empyrium saw in her. This might be all she knows.

“Fine,” I say through gritted teeth. It’s a fool’s mission, but I’ll do anything to save my mate.

And really, how bad could this be?

I rub a hand down my face.

When did I get so good at kidding myself?

“I thought you’d say that,” she says with a simpering smile. “You have five days.”

“What? That’s not enough time!”

But a second later, my surroundings blink out in a flash of white light, and I find myself lying facedown on a warm patch of sand, a strong wind tossing my hair and tugging at my clothing.

I cough the grit out of my mouth as I roll over to find an expanse of crystal-blue ocean filling the horizon. Sitting up, I scan my surroundings and realize Zerra must have dropped me in Alluvion.

At least she did me this favor. She must really want that ark.

“That bitch,” I say, wiping sand from my mouth, but the effort only deposits more fine grains onto my tongue. I try to spit them out, but more wedge between my teeth and in my throat.

I wince at the ache in every joint and muscle. Between the fight and the chase inside the Sun Palace, trying to heal Nadir, and the emotional weight of losing my mate, I feel like I’ve been filled with a thousand pounds of lead .

My quest stands in the distance. A shimmering palace made of what looks like sea glass sits on the shore, glistening in the sun—the Alluvion King’s home.

I stare at it, wondering how to approach this. Walk up and announce myself? Tell Cyan who I am? Would he believe me? And if he does, will he welcome me or vilify me for my grandmother’s actions? Maybe he’ll try to use me like everyone else. Can I trust my secrets with him? Do the rulers of Ouranos know the heir of Heart has surfaced?

I stumble to my feet, dusting sand off my golden Sun Palace livery. I think of Nadir in his black clothes and how he refused to wear the uniform during our mission to the Mirror. A sob cracks in my chest, and I hold my hand against it as though I could stop my heart from leaking out and bleeding through my ribs. But I have to keep it together for his sake.

I attempt to straighten my wrinkled clothes and finger comb the tangles out of my hair. I rub my face as if that might do something to make me more presentable. I must look like something the ocean vomited onto the shore.

“You couldn’t have given me something clean to wear?!” I shout at the sky, but I’m met with only belligerent silence.

Zerra’s probably watching me, loving every moment of this.

“Fucking gods,” I mumble to myself as I pick my way through the soft sand that’s already filling my boots, chafing my skin.

I remember the beaches of Aphelion and the day I was dangled on a rope over the water. I’ve decided I hate beaches and sand and maybe the ocean, too, as pretty as it is. This one’s probably also filled with deadly, flesh-eating creatures .

I pull off my boots and then curse when the hot sand instantly burns my feet.

Yes, I fucking hate the beach.

Loathe it, in fact.

I move quickly, attempting to find relief from this cursed stretch of blazing sand.

Finally, a stone pathway appears, winding towards the palace. In the distance, I make out a pair of guards flanking an entrance.

It feels as though I have no choice but to walk up and introduce myself. I could try to find a way to sneak in, perhaps get a job as a servant like Willow in Aphelion, but the clock is ticking on an impossible timeline, and I only have five days. This will require directness.

I make my way up the path. The stones are warm, but at least they don’t singe my feet. When I’m in view of the gate, I stop, again trying to smooth down my hair to make myself appear somewhat like the queen I apparently am. I’m sure it’s hopeless, though.

I consider putting my boots back on, but my feet are covered in sand, and the idea is deeply unappealing.

So I straighten my shoulders, trying to radiate confidence.

Fake it until you make it, they say.

I have a feeling I’m about to become the world’s biggest imposter.

I blow out a breath and then march towards the gate with my boots dangling from my hand and my chin held high, clinging to the promise of my certain failure.